Inspiron 1545 - Win 7 Home 64 bit - BOOTMGR image is corrupt
I have a friends 1545 to look at. At boot time we get BOOTMGR image is corrupt. System will not boot.
I tried a Win 7 Recovery CD that I'd made up. I was going for a recovery console that would let me: bootrec /FixMbr bootrec /FixBoot bootrec
/RebuildBcd. The recovery CD "Loaded Windows" and after some considerable delay, gives me a black screen with just the mouse pointer. I left it there for about an hour. Is it the CD itself? Not likely as it loads and launches properly on two other laptops and a desktop on the bench. Removed the HDD and attached it to a desktop via a USB-ATA bridge adapter. It sees the drive and interacts with it. So, in an attempt to invoke the recovery console, I rebooted and attempted Ctl-F11. I get: BOOTMGR image is corrupt. System will not boot. So, let's try the Reinstallation CD that came with the 1545. That too yields a Windows is loading, nice Windows Flag graphic, then a black screen with a mouse cursor. I loaded a Knoppix LiveCD which works.
The motherboard was replaced under warrantee last Sept of 2011. It's out of warrantee at present. It also will not charge the battery which was also replaced. Checked voltage on the adapter and its at 19.6 V DC.
What more should I try? I am at a loss to determine exactly what this problem is. Looks like we have a working disk. Looks like the optical drive is functioning. But it won't Recover either from the hidden partition nor the ReInstall CD.
Opinions, guidance, crying towels appreciated.
